Despite Criticism, Trailer For 9/11 Film Will Run

By SHARON WAXMAN

Published: April 4, 2006

Universal Studios said on Monday that it would stick with plans to show an adrenaline-pumping trailer for ''United 93,'' its forthcoming thriller about the passenger revolt on one of the planes hijacked on 9/11, despite qualms from some moviegoers and families of 9/11 victims.

Adam Fogelson, Universal's president of marketing, said the trailer, which was pulled from AMC Loews Lincoln Square 12 Theater in Manhattan on Saturday after complaints from patrons, would be shown only before R-rated movies or ''grown-up'' PG-13 ones. He said the trailer was created to give a candid sense of the film itself, which opens at the end of the month.

''The film is not sanitized or softened, it's an honest and real look'' at the events on United Airlines Flight 93, Mr. Fogelson said. ''If I sanitized the trailer beyond what's there, am I suggesting that the experience will be less real than what the movie itself is? We as a company feel comfortable that it is a responsible and fair way to show what's coming.''

The studio's challenge -- how to promote a film about the tragedy without seeming to exploit it -- is likely to surface repeatedly in coming months, as a cluster of movies that touch on the events of 9/11 begins to surface.

The Tribeca Film Festival, created in response to the World Trade Center attacks, will show several such films. They include ''The Saint of 9/11,'' a documentary about a gay priest who died in the assault, and ''United 93,'' scheduled to open the festival on April 25. Oliver Stone's ''World Trade Center'' will be out in August.

Studio and festival representatives have been careful to position their films as tributes to the heroes and victims of the tragedy. But some victims' relatives suggested that the ''United 93'' trailer should have been tested to gauge audience sensitivities, and that, particularly in Manhattan, perhaps it should not be played at all.

''A film is something you elect to go see, you pay money, and you're prepared for it,'' said Paula Berry, who lost her husband, David Berry, in the World Trade Center collapse and serves on the advisory board of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation. ''A trailer is, you're sitting there to see another film, and then you see something you're unprepared for.''

Tom Roger, whose 24-year-old daughter, Jean, was a flight attendant on American Flight 11, which flew into the north tower, said he wished the studio had somehow notified other 9/11 families about the trailer. ''It's not the first time someone is trying to exploit the history of this event,'' he said. ''I don't have a problem with it. But there's a warning that ought to be put in advance of the trailer. I don't know how these things can be treated in a more sensitive manner. But that's the issue.''

The Discovery Channel re-enacted the events in the documentary ''The Flight That Fought Back.'' ''Flight 93,'' an A&E film, was broadcast in January.

Universal executives say they have gone to great pains to be sensitive to the victims' families. The film's director, Paul Greengrass -- who is best known for ''The Bourne Supremacy,'' but who also made the politically explosive docudrama ''Bloody Sunday,'' about British troops' massacre of civilian protesters in Northern Ireland -- got to know the families of most of the victims. Most cooperated in the making of the film, and they will have a chance to see the completed film this weekend, one executive said.

Some theaters are showing a promotional spot about the making of ''United 93'' that explains some of the thinking and methodology behind the film, which depicts events in roughly the amount of time in which they occurred.

But the trailer, currently being shown on close to 3,000 screens across the country ahead of Universal's heist caper ''Inside Man,'' has hit a raw nerve with some.

The trailer starts quietly, with passengers preparing for Flight 93 and dramatically builds, complete with loud, pulse-pounding music, to include actual news video of a plane about to hit the south tower of the World Trade Center. It then takes the viewer inside United Flight 93 as terrorists begin the hijacking, and finally shows a passenger calling his family to inform them of the imminent takeover.

Mr. Fogelson said the trailer had been tested to gauge audiences' desire to see the film, not for taste.

One victim's widow said she was surprised that the trailer had disturbed some moviegoers. ''I did not anticipate the general reaction that I'm seeing,'' said Sandra Felt, whose husband, Edward, a software engineer, was on United 93. ''But I think of it as a good thing; it creates awareness about terrorism.''

Mrs. Felt said people who were upset by the trailer should avoid the movie. But she added: ''9/11 is a fact. It happened. Running away from the movie isn't going to resolve underlying factors of why we're upset by it.''

Photos: A scene from the Universal film ''United 93,'' about a 9/11 hijacking. (Photo by Universal)(pg. E1); Scenes from the film ''United 93.'' Marketing the film, about one of the planes hijacked on 9/11, is proving to be a challenge for Universal Studios. (Photo by Universal)(pg. E7)